subwoofer placement

[fudgemik]

hey guys here is a sad sketch of my basement, i was wondering if i moved the subwoofer from this position to the corner marked in red...i know it would increase but do u think this too far from everything, look at it in relation to the theater, its a wide open basement with 8 ft, ceilings, carpeted.............







i cant move everything cause of column locations, i didnt think i needed to mark them............but this a wide open area with only perimeter walls...........

[kexodusc]

What you'd gain in SPL from corner reinforcement, you'd lose from distance, I think. If it were me, I'd try moving the front L/R speakers just a tad wider apart and put the sub somewhere in between the front L/R.
I wouldn't bother with the far corner.

[canuckle]

Personally, I'd try it in the corner behind the couch... to your right if you're sitting down. People have this idea that it has to be up front with the mains, but if you've set it up right the sound is not localizable. I think you'd get the strongest bass response from that corner.

[PeruvianSkies]

Put the subwoofer in your usual listening spot and play something that has constant low passages and will allow your sub to have a nice workout. While doing this, move around the room until you find a spot where the bass sounds the smoothest and most preferable to you, once you have done that, move the subwoofer to THAT spot. It might not be ideal in your room, so maybe make a slight adjustment and move it to the next nearest spot, close to that one you have just established.

[kexodusc]

Put the subwoofer in your usual listening spot and play something that has constant low passages and will allow your sub to have a nice workout. While doing this, move around the room until you find a spot where the bass sounds the smoothest and most preferable to you, once you have done that, move the subwoofer to THAT spot. It might not be ideal in your room, so maybe make a slight adjustment and move it to the next nearest spot, close to that one you have just established.

Yeah, this is the preferred method - think it goes back to Toole and his white papers. Good idea. Be careful though, almost universally, the best sounding position is interpreted to be the loudest, ie, the one with the most peaks.

The biggest reason I suggested keeping the sub between the speakers was for integration and phase purposes. The further off access you go, the worst it's going to be. While the subwoofer may sound best in isolation in one spot of the room, it may not integrate well with your speakers if it's strongly positioned of axis.

Trial and error. Most rooms exhibit a +/-12 dB variation in response - a few minor FR peak troubles can be less damaging than phase/time inconsistencies.

Then again, your room and preferences may vary.

[fudgemik]

yeah last nite i set the subwoofer enclosure on my couch firing towards my tv. and proceeded to walk around the walls and yes the back corner did yield probably the best output but i kinda want it up front, so as i checked every spot up front believe it or not the spot where i had it has the best output , 2 feet to the left or right and it disappeared, kinda funny i had it in the best spot already..........i know corner spots are great but i had no front left corner in my little theater and the front right well i have a small angle wall with a door that conceals my sump pump and it sounded terrible in that area altogether.........so i guess where it is, well its staying there, i guess the only thing to do is add more woofers.................

[s dog]

Yeah, this is the preferred method - think it goes back to Toole and his white papers. Good idea. Be careful though, almost universally, the best sounding position is interpreted to be the loudest, ie, the one with the most peaks.

The biggest reason I suggested keeping the sub between the speakers was for integration and phase purposes. The further off access you go, the worst it's going to be. While the subwoofer may sound best in isolation in one spot of the room, it may not integrate well with your speakers if it's strongly positioned of axis.

Trial and error. Most rooms exhibit a +/-12 dB variation in response - a few minor FR peak troubles can be less damaging than phase/time inconsistencies.

Then again, your room and preferences may vary.

Thats the case with my setup, the sub sounds the best and hits the hardest in the rear right corner, but thats 18ft from my front speakers and i do have some integration problems, more with music than movies, However i injoy loud assaulting bass so much that im willing to put up with a weak blend with the the front speakers. If i get a new sub down the road i may try putting the sub i have now up front and the new one in the back corner and see what happens.